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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

Is my milk quality and quantity no longer enough?

7 replies

Jacquesy · 10/09/2012 20:44

My baby is 7 weeks old now, and for the first 4 week BF went really well, he was gaining weight and we were getting into a great routine. At 4.5 weeks he got sick and was unable to keep any feeds down. For the best part of 2 weeks I was feeding him little and often (3 -5 minute feeds every 2 hours) after 2 weeks we discovered he had Pyrolic Stenosis and needed an operation. Whilst in hospital we were unable to feed him for 3 days and after the operation I was feeding him expressed milk (I expressed as much as I could during our stay in hospital).

We are now at home and despite feeding him myself - he screams straight after and seems frustrated and I dont think he's getting enough food as he seems really unsettled. I have spoken to my health visitor about it and she thinks that due to the upheaval of the events of the last few weeks, the quality of my milk may no longer be enough for him (I'm trying to eat better - but i know I'm not good at drinking). Lately I've started topping him up with formula after offering him the breast just so that I can be sure he's satisfied. However, does this mean I'll never be able to just breastfeed alone?

Help as I really want to just breastfeed but couldn't leave him unsatisfied as he desperately needs to gain weight. Anybody else have any experience of anything like this?

OP posts:
tiktok · 10/09/2012 21:30

What a difficult situation.....:(

Please speak to another HV and anyone else you trust. It is a very bad thing to suggest your milk quality is likely to have suffered - milk quality remains pretty standard whatever the mother's diet, lifestyle, stress, intake of fluids. You do not need to be worried about this - how useless of your HV to say this.

Quantity may have been effected - and as you suggest topping up with formula makes things worse, not better.

Please contact a bf helpline and talk this through. It may be you will need to feed more often, using at least both sides per feed, and gradually stop the extra formula. Your baby's distress may be an after-effect of his hospital stay, however, and nothing to do with his feeding - again, a bf helpline can explore this with you.

What are the concerns with weight?

Hope you get good help soon

tiktok · 10/09/2012 21:31

What a difficult situation.....:(

Please speak to another HV and anyone else you trust. It is a very bad thing to suggest your milk quality is likely to have suffered - milk quality remains pretty standard whatever the mother's diet, lifestyle, stress, intake of fluids. You do not need to be worried about this - how useless of your HV to say this.

Quantity may have been affected (different issue) - and as you suggest topping up with formula makes things worse, not better.

Please contact a bf helpline and talk this through. It may be you will need to feed more often, using at least both sides per feed, and gradually stop the extra formula. Your baby's distress may be an after-effect of his hospital stay, however, and nothing to do with his feeding - again, a bf helpline can explore this with you.

What are the concerns with weight?

Hope you get good help soon.

NoWittyName · 10/09/2012 21:31

I had to stop breastfeeding my daughter when she was about 4 weeks old due to her having side effects of chemotherapy which meant she was unable to feed. For one reason or another (including being on life support for 5 weeks and then later having a fifth of her bowel removed) she did not feed properly from me for probably around 5 months. I expressed throughout this time to keep some production, but there is no way on earth this was decent production because of all of the stress involved.

Thank G she did manage to get back solely on the breast but I had great help from the BF counsellor in the hospital. YOU CAN DO IT!!! (not in capitals because being shouty, in capitals because doing a cheerleader type chant Wink ) Try to find out what breast feeding support there is around you as health visitors are not always so specialised.

Try to keep expressing so that if he is not stimulating you so much yet you are still increasing your production - try to remember that you will produce as much as your body thinks is being demanded. I know it's not a pleasant experience, but expressing can not only increase your production, but you can use the expressed stuff to top him up if you feel he needs it.

This is more a tale of 'don't worry, you're not alone' rather than direct help, but I am happy to give as much hand-holding, back-patting and advice as I can if you want.

XXXXX

KnitterNotTwitter · 10/09/2012 21:36

In my experience screaming after a feed is more often burp related... Try burping mid feed as well as at the end... and really try to get the burp out.

Let you baby suck/nibble for ages after each feed if they want to rather than topping up. They'll still keep getting milk out as they do and they'll be giving your body the message of how much to produce.

Good luck...

TortillaDeMaiz · 10/09/2012 22:29

Hello, I hope it gets better for you. My DS2 was in hospital at 5 weeks and had a few feeds from a bottle as well. When he was feeling better he was quite frustrated at the breast. I assume he was hungry but couldn't latch properly when the breasts were too soft. (The nurses in hospital had insisted we should spread the feeds as much as possible Angry and he was also given a dummy to calm him down). When we were home we had a few days when I left him feed as often as he wanted. Also if your baby took some antibiotics, he might have got some thrush, so get it checked.

Original poster
Jacquesy · 10/09/2012 23:33

Thanks everyone. My concern with his weight is that because he was poorly he's dropped a lot of weight and so as of last week was pretty much at his birth weight, so he's now 3lb underweight. Keen to get it back on him (but by breastfeeding ideally)

I think there is a breastfeeding group locally so I may try going there - I'll also try expressing when I can and hope that I can get my production up. Thanks for the advise, its comforting to know that perhaps its not the quality of my milk thats the problem. I just hope that soon I will be able to meet his demands!

OP posts:
tiktok · 11/09/2012 07:08

Not sure what you mean by 3 lbs underweight (3 lbs less than he would have been expected to be, prob?) - but it's a lot and in a baby as young as this, and I can understand the concern.

You do need specialist help in addition to the bf group - but not from people who tell you that quality might be suffering :(

Is there a specialist infant feeding person in your area?

A bf helpline is a good source, but they will probably want to check you have some medical help on hand too - as I say, 3 pounds underweight is a lot.

Hope this help is avaiable.

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